Health Hazards in Central Asia on Afghanistan Example

Introduction Traveling to Afghanistan nowadays is truly health& and life&threatening (1, 2). Destroyed country infrastructure, low sanitary and epidemiologic conditions, low level of medical assistance (lack of medical personnel, shortage of basic medicines and hygienic means) – all contribute to the dissemination of many infectious and non&infectious diseases (3& 5). More than 70% of the health care functioning in Afghanistan is dependent on the help of foreign humanitarian organizations (6&8). Afghanistan is a region of an extreme danger of terrorist and criminal attacks. Bomb attacks, thefts, kidnappings mostly directed against Stabilization Forces soldiers and humanitarian organization workers have become the order of the day. Remains of the wartime are visible in the whole territory of the country with mines and unexploded shells posing the highest danger. Just traveling on Afghan roads is extremely dangerous because of their catastrophic technical condition and notorious disobedience of traffic rules by local riders (1, 9). In July 2005 the population of Afghanistan was assessed at 29,929,000 but these data are only approximate because of regular migrations of Afghans abroad, mainly to Pakistan and Iran (during the last three decades approximately 5 million Afghan people have emigrated, and 3.1 million of these have returned), and also within the country (approximately 2 mill ion of internal refugees during the civil war, nowadays the internal displacements are estimated at 200,000 people) (10,11). Afghanistan is a country of a highest population growth rate, estimated at 4.77% per year in 2005. The fertility rate is 6.75 children per 1 Afghan woman. In 1979, 15,682,000 inhabitants lived in the country, so during the last 25 years the population have increased by more than 90% in spite of the high mortality rate caused by warfare, famine and diseases. According to the United Nations calculations, at the present birth rate the number of Afghans may have reached 97 million by 2050! An average Afghan is very young. In 2005 as many as 44.7% of the population were below 14 years of age, 52.9% in the age range 15&64, and only 2.4% were over 65 years old. The mean age of an average Afghan is 17.56 years. The population health status parameters place Afghanistan among the poorest countries in the world. The total mortality rate is estimated at 2.07% (20.7 deaths/ 1000 inhabitants per year), infant mortality rate (under 1 year old) – 16.3% (163 deaths/ 1000 live births), that of children younger than 5 years – 25.7% (257 deaths/1000 live births). Life expectancy at birth of an average Afghan is estimated at 43 years only, and one per four Afghan children dies before being 5 years old (10,12&14). Infectious diseases УДК 614"056.22(575);(581) HEALTH HAZARDS IN CENTRAL ASIA ON AFGHANISTAN EXAMPLE